Proactive Investors - Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR.) has announced plans to expand the Derby submarine manufacturing site and create over a thousand new jobs using Ministry of Defence funds.
Some 1,170 new jobs will be created within the FTSE 100-listed company as part of the plan, which will see the site in Raynesway, Derby double in size.
The expansion will be funded by the Ministry of Defence, Rolls-Royce added, after the company was selected to power the UK’s latest fleet of nuclear submarines earlier this year.
Some £5bn was earmarked for the Royal Navy’s submarine arm under the AUKUS pact, which saw the US and UK commit to helping Australia develop its own nuclear-powered fleet in September 2021.
A new class of submarines incorporated with US technology was then announced in March this year, with Rolls-Royce set to develop nuclear reactors to power the warships.
“This is a truly exciting time for our business, with work secured that will see us support UK and Australian submarines well into the second half of this century,” Rolls-Royce Submarines President Steve Carlier said.
“For over 60 years we have provided the power to the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines and our expansion plans are the first step in helping Australia acquire their own nuclear [fleet].”
Rolls-Royce already powers the UK’s entire nuclear submarine fleet, with the first SSN-AUKUS set to start replacing the UK’s existing Acute class vessels in the early 2030s.
Australian variants of the submarine will then be delivered in the early 2040s, having been built in BAE Systems’ boat yard in Barrow, Cumbria.